Ventura County Biographies
A. W. Blumberg
Submitted by Sandy Neder
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
A. W. Blumberg is the proprietor and manager of the Ojai Hot Springs, in the
Matilija Canon, located fifteen miles from Ventura and five miles from Nordhoff.
Here Mr. Blumberg has what might be called a village for the sick, the halt, and
the invalid of every description, and here are located three springs. The Hot
Sulphur Spring is 104� and is impregnated with sulphate of soda, magnesia and
other healing properties, and is the safest and most healing to be found. Every
one who has tried its efficiency speaks in the most emphatic manner of the
benefits derived. Another fine spring is called the Fountain of Life, which is
tonic in its effect. The third spring Mr. Blumberg calls the Mother Eve spring.
It is alternative and cathartic in its effect. It is one of the unexplained
mysteries of nature how these delightful health-giving fountains should flow
from our beneficent mother earth in the same locality. The canon in which the
little health town is located has a beautiful, clear mountain stream, the San
Buenaventura River, running through it, filled with a great many shy little
trout, that all can fish for but only the expert can catch. This romantic spot
is hemmed in by mountains 1,000 feet high on either side, and those who enjoy
wild and rugged scenery can here find a place of delight. It is about nine
hundred feet above the sea, and is completely shut in from the breezes of the
great Pacific, fifteen miles away. Mr. Blumberg has eighty acres of land, in
the center of which he has built the Matilija House, which is designed with
kitchen, dining-room, parlor and office, near which are five or six cottages in
which guests may have the quiet of home. There are also some tents, the
bath-house, a store and post office, all built and conducted by Mr. Blumberg,
who is also the Postmaster. He is an enterprising business man, well informed,
pleasing in his manner, and takes great pains to look after the comfort of his
guests. Consequently, his resort is fast becoming a popular one.
The subject of this sketch was born in Roxbury, Delaware County, New York,
July 9, 1836, the son of Christopher Blumberg. His grandfather, George Blumberg,
came from Germany, was detained in the British army, and afterward became a
settler of Delaware County, New York. Mr. Blumberg's mother, nee Jane Mackey,
was a native of New York. Her father, Thomas Mackey, was also born in the same
State. They were of Scotch ancestry. Mr. Blumberg received his education in New
York, and afterward went to Iowa, where he was admitted to the bar. In 1872 he
came to California, and after residing in Los Angeles one or two years came to
Ventura County, where he has since remained. He built the first hotel in
Nordhoff, for which he received the twenty acres of land on which it stands. He
arrived in Nordhoff January 12, 1874, and at that time the town was in the
embryo state. Mr. Blumberg named the hotel which he built The Nordhoff, but it
has since been called the Ojai House. For three years he was its proprietor and
conducted it successfully. The land for the town site was bought for $4.25 per
acre, and sixteen years later Mr. Blumberg sold one-fourth of an acre for
$5,000. He still has considerable real-estate interests in the town. He started
the Hot Springs enterprise January 20, 1887.
Mr. Blumberg was married in 1859, to Miss Catherine E. Vancuren, a native of
New York, daughter of Calvin Van Curen, also a native of New York. Their union
has been blest with five children, four of whom are living, viz.: Ines O.,
Wheeler C., Birdsel W. and Irene M. The last named was the first child born in
Nordhoff. Mr. Blumberg is a Republican and was elected Justice of the Peace by
his party. He is a Master Mason.
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF SANTA BARBARA, SAN LUIS
OBISPO, AND VENTURA, CALIF. by Ida Addis Storke, 1891, p 292